Minette Smith, head of pastry and confectionary training at the HTA school of culinary arts in Ferndale is one of seven chefs who will make their country proud when they participate at the IKA culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany this year. Smith is responsible for creating scrumptious desserts in the hot kitchen.
SA team manager, Heinz Brunner explained the history of the Olympics on 16 August at the last menu showcasing. IKA (Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung) started in 1900 with a team of chefs in Frankfurt, Germany. The first cooking exhibition with only 11 chefs took place in 1956 and thereafter took place every four years, just like the Olympics in sport. Today 32 nations will be battling it out for gold. SA took part for the first time in 1980.
The hopes for a gold medal are in good hands with seven very talented chefs that will be driving the ship.
The team captain, Henrico Grobbelaar said that he studied engineering as that is what his father wanted, but he soon realized that he wants to be a chef. Grobbelaar is the executive chef at Tsogo Sun’s Southern Sun, The Cullinan. Arno Ralph is a pastry chef and as the pastry division now counts 40 percent of the total score, his expertise will be a benefit for the team. He is currently an assistant chocolatier at Lindt & Sprüngli SA in Cape Town.
Blake Anderson is responsible for the three starters. Anderson is the complex executive chef at Montecasino. Dion Vengatass oversees the starters in the hot kitchen and the tapas items on the five-course festive menu for the cold table. Vengatass works as a sous chef at The Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town.
Kirsten Hellemann’s role in the team is to work on the cold table festive menu and finger food alongside Dion Vengatass, as well
as working with the rest of the team on the hot kitchen menu. Hellemann is a chef at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town at the hotel’s Planet Restaurant.
Executive chef of the Michael Angelo Hotel in Sandton, Trevor Boyd, took part in the 2008 Olympics where the team won gold for the restaurant of nations division. Boyd is responsible for the vegetarian dishes on the cold table display.
The team will leave for Erfurt in Germany on 18 October. Randburg Sun salutes team SA. Keep your pots boiling and make us proud.
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